The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-18
A RUINED BUSINESS.
END OF THE BIG CATTLE RANCHES
OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN VALLEYS.

The Dis ,ster Crushing and without
Remedy.
instance the present condition of once
famous stock growing valley Four years
ago tall bunch grass stood in the upper North
fiatte valley The low, rocky hills were
covered The spaces between the sage
bushes We're occupied by punches OF grass.
The treeiess TANKS of the mountain ranges
were yellow with dried grass which waved
In The wind There was grass. and good
grass, everywhere throughout the valley.
Heavy crops of hay We're cut on Jae natural
meadows. Cattle. horses, antelope and elk
roannti through the valley from Hunters
ranch at the bridge over the North Platte
20 fifty mikes below Fort Steele On every
creek wht.h issued from the mountains pros
porous cattle growers lived III log houses
The cattle were fat, and though the growers
always tied abort the per cent. OF calves
they br:.ielcd, IL did not seem though dis
aster we're chase at hand.
But how Is j. 10 dayf The valley Of the
North Platte, tSi, famous grazing ground,
II virtually u CRASHES desert l have Just
:ttui ned from Il trip through it and the adj
Jacent mountains, and l have never seen
more taiueiess region to grow or hold cattle
IN. be lsr;iSs IS traInpcd out by the hoofs of
thnUsaais % hungry and lean cattle, that
walked tcr months the arid land in
search Of food. They roamed for days be-
fore they staggered close to the snow in the
foot hills and t.ien they closely followed the
retr'.ating sIlo. banks into the down timber,
into the green timber, and finally on to the
sun!flit Of the Sierra Madre mountains.
VALLEY OF DESoLAnON.
While slowly driving down this gray
valley of desolation my comrade continually
assured that there was good grass
in the foothills, and that the cattle which
grazed there were fat. We left the wagon
at Grand EUcamDuient river and took saddle
and rode into tn. foothills. / was strongly
impressed with the umheaithful appearance
of the cattle Their hair did not lie smooth
There was . peculiar stare in their eyes
which | had long ago learned to recognizes
as fatctui. The calves sucked the cows fire.
quently and with nervous energy. The cows
almost without exception, lean and
weak. The grass, scanty appearing to
eastern eyes at all times, had a queer, strange
appearance. After riding a few miles and
inspecting the grass from the elevation Of a
horses back, | dismounted and carefully
examined it, bunch after bunch until had
inspected fifty punches The story was told
In no bunch which / examined were there
more than twelve stalks of this years grass
The other stalks, from twenty to sixty to
each bunch were last years growth. 1t is
not possible for cattle to separate the good
grass from the poor. Three-quarters of the
food that the cattle, which have grazed i'm
the foothills during the past summer, have
eaten consisted of the weather beaten rain
soaked grass OF last years growth 1t is no
wonder that they venture,l far into the
mountains in search of fresh and tender feed
Almost daily, while hunting in the Sierra
Mad tain I
cattle feeding in tho mountain parks or in
the green timber. These animals were
almost wild as elk. They fed in the same
localities as the elk and blacktailed deer
did. | judged from the frequency with
whi,'h / these small herds that there
were many hundreds of them in the noun
tains. What will be the fate of these half
wild animals which were grazing in tho
lofty, pine clad highlands three weeks ago.
l unhesitatingiy answer, not one in ten will
get out at the mountains. Before this time
they are showed in Instinct, or may be-
superior reasoning power, teaches game
animals To fly out Of the mountains when
heavy snow storms begin to rage Cattle
have not this instinct. They are almost
sure to linger too long in the highlands, and
there they die of cold and hunger The
nature of the ground forbids their being
driven out, and, indeed, the cowboys have
no heart to enter unknown and intricate
mountain systems in search of these cattle,
they might get lost themselves.
PIrIFUL SIGHT.
My hunting camp was pitched on the
eastern slope OF the Sierra Madre mountains
about two miles from the summit of the di-
vide. Between it and the bare foothills was
a jackstraw- like tsngle of down timber, and
two wide belts Of green timber. A heavy
faII all Of.
ing that the hunt was mt an end, we packed
up and travelled down the rugged mountain
TANKS, now in down timber, now in green
We passed many bands of cattle that ran in
all dlrections, excepting the right one, at
our approach. Ii was evident that that they
had forgotten the trails on which they en-
tered the highlands in early summer. These
cattle are sure to die this winter. In the
treeless foothills all the cattle which had
passed the summer there were trailing for
the lower valley. To the extent of vision,
both TO the north and south, short columns
of cattle could be seen at intervals wading
slowly through the snow. The next day,
curious to see what the cattle would do
when they found there was no feed in the
valley. rode to the lowlands Before l
got to the base of the foothills l met cattle
walking up the mountain. They had been
assembled the hills, preferring to rustic in the
snow rather than to starve in the snowless,
CRASHES plains. In the valley many hun
dred cattle stood In line along the barbed
wire fences, or at the banks of irrigating
bitches, waiting until hunger drove them
back TO the snowclad foothills. Presently
they started, singly, in pairs and in family
columns, and by night the valley was again
destitute of cattle. 1t was pitiful sight to
the hungry animals resolutely enter the
foothills and the deep snow in search of food.
As It is In this valley so it is in many
others. met and talked with cattle grow
ers who Craze their herds in the north,
in the south, in the west and ON the
plains, and, with few exceptions, all told tho
same story. That the native grasses on
closely grazed grounds were almost extinct:
that the grass had been trodden out of MANY
valleys; that other extensive areas had been
almost ruined by overstocking, and that dis
sster, serious and widespread, menaces the
whole cattle growing industry west Of the
Mist fnari,iian